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- Python’s @property feature – similar to PHP’s magic getters and setters in that it allows you to add logic that is implemented when code from outside the class accesses or writes to a variable. Better though, because it can be controlled on a per-variable basis rather than having one clunky method that has to manage all variables for the entire class.
- A better way to do number input in HTML – I’ve long been frustrated by the limitations of
<input type="number">. I’ve even had to resort to using textfields with JavaScript onkeypress handlers to enforce fairly basic input restrictions such as requiring the user to enter a positive integer. It really seems like opportunities were missed in the HTML5 spec to make a number input that was more usable for both developers and end users, but it’s nice to see that now the alternatives are more widely supported. - WebAuthn public key-based authentication is the future of authentication, and the password era is (hopefully) ending. I really hope this will be widely adopted – even in 2019 I have received an email from a website with my password in plain text “just in case you’ve forgotten”! One complication of the new approach is that authentication will be device-dependent, so apps will need to allow users to manage the devices which can authenticate to their account.
- How Bitbucket moved 80% of their DB load to replicas – I love the clever use of write-ahead log sequence numbers to ensure that each user is always talking to a replica which has their latest changes, and Django framework middleware to keep this all out of sight and out of mind for developers.
- JavaScript libraries are almost never updated on existing sites – an interesting analysis by Cloudflare, but probably not a surprise. I’m as guilty as everyone else, and it all comes down to testing – without comprehensive automated tests for your front-end, it’s never going to feel “safe” to drop in a new version of a library.